Mohieldin: Economic, social development in Africa must be green

22 / 09 / 2022

By Marwa Nassar - -

Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, United Nations Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, stressed that economic and social development in Africa must be green to avoid suffering from climate change.

“Economic and social development in Africa must be green and clean, otherwise the continent will keep suffering from climate change and will keep paying to deal with its impacts.” Mohieldin said.

He added that this requires a joint work from governments, private sector and NGOs, beside highlighting finance and investment opportunities in climate action, applying new technologies, and enhancing data systems that help achieving climate targets.

Mohieldin said that Public and Private Sectors Partnerships (PPPs) can contribute effectively in achieving green economic and social development in Africa.

He made the remarks during his participation in a session about the private sector role in implementing climate solutions within the events of NYC Climate Week, with participation of Ambassador David Thorne, Senior Advisor Office of the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, Dr Yakubu Muhammed Baba, Registrar and Chief Executive of Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, and Dr Amin Adam, Deputy Minister for Energy in Ghana.

Mohieldin said that despite the only 3% of Africa contributing to global warming, the continent people and economies are suffering from climate change many double this rate.

The climate champion clarified that public finance should play the main role regarding adaptation projects beside minimizing the risk of financing and investing in these projects, and this will help encourage private sector participation in projects of solar energy, renewables, green hydrogen and other adaptation projects.

“Adaptation needs more attention from public finance and more participation from the private sector. According to a GCA report, only 3% of financing adaptation measures in Africa come from the private sector.” Mohieldin said.

Mohieldin stated that there’s a wrong thought that mitigation measures help reduce greenhouse gases everywhere, while the results of adaptation measures stay local, explaining that the non implementing of adaptation projects will have dire consequences in different communities, will raise tensions all over the world, and will lead to a big increase in the numbers of refugees.

Mohieldin pointed to the importance of the five major regional forums initiative launched by Egypt presidency of COP27, UN regional economic commissions and HLCs in which four of them resulted in more than 70 projects that represent the result of discussions between governments and private sector, which make these projects promising opportunities of PPPs.